Genetic relations among wild populations of Saccharina japonica in the western North Pacific

• Published in: Regional Studies in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Yotsukura, Norishige, Liu, Chang, Terai, Masakazu, Klimova, Anna, Galanin, Dmitrii, Klochkova, Nina, Suzuki, Toshio
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier
• Subjects: Genetic relation; Hokkaido; Microsatellite polymorphism; Saccharina japonica; Sakhalin; 474; Pacific
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/92599; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2022.102357

We performed microsatellite polymorphism analysis for wild populations of Saccharina japonica, a kelp species that is, among wild production areas, mainly produced in Hokkaido, is indispensable as an ingredient of Japanese food that differs in application and value depending on the origin (variety), growing in southern Sakhalin, Primorsky Krai, and Hokkaido to investigate the genetic relations among the populations. A total of 230 alleles (Polymorphic Information Content: 0.08-0.69) were detected from 18 loci. In the analysis by region, the differentiation index (F-st) and genetic distance (DS) were lower between the Sakhalin southwestern-end populations or the Sakhalin southern coast populations and the Hokkaido populations. However, gene structure analysis showed that the clusters dominant in the kelp in the Sakhalin or Hokkaido population group also existed in the other population group, suggesting that genes are exchanged between these regions. When analyses were performed by origin, one of the Sakhalin southwestern-end populations formed a clade with the Hokkaido populations in the phylogenetic tree, both having similar genetic structure, and the F-st and DS values were particularly low with the Hokkaido East populations (S. japonica var. diabolica. The F-st and DS values were also low between the five Sakhalin southern populations - a sister group with the Hokkaido East populations in the phylogenetic tree - and the North Hokkaido populations (S. japonica var. ochotensis), indicating that these Sakhalin southwestern-end and southern populations may be used as alternatives to Hokkaido populations for culinary purposes.